Mute
by TheDamSnackbar
Summary: Lorna and her little brother have become orphans. With no foster parents to take her in, she is separated from Rueben. Lorna vows to get him back. She can't risk making any emotional connections at Elmtree, so she becomes mute. Perhaps it's not that easy.
1. Promises

**A/N: Hey, hope you like this story! :D The other chapters are longer.**

Various books, toys and clothes flew across the room. Tops and jeans were strewn across the floor; a petite girl was in the small corner of the room, beside a wide open wardrobe. Her face was tear stained and red, slight scratch marks visible where she had tried to wipe them away furiously. No tears would be seen by anyone outside these four walls, no matter how hard they tried to break her.

Her light brown curls fell messily down her back and she constantly pulled loose strands behind her ears. The girl's smoky grey eyes scanned the room and the items around her as she hunched over a wide open suitcase. It hurt so much. To know that all of these things would be gone soon, never to be found again. Sent to a charity, a care home, perhaps a children's ward in a hospital.

They all needed it so much more than she. So why did it feel so much like she was letting someone down? The fact that every item she held in her fingertips blew a new memory back into her mind. She'd love, in a few years, to look back at all of these memories and see them in a brighter light. Not like now, when they just sent a fresh flood of tears to the brim of her eyes. But that couldn't happen. She had to be strong about it. For Rueben, she had to be strong.

That day she had crashed against them, clawing her way through the barrier of people and clambering over to him. They said he couldn't be with her now, because he was too young. They had to go to seperate care homes, because the one she was going to didn't have room for too many little children. Somehow, they should've made an exception. For Lorna, they should've made an exception.

In fact, Lorna didn't need their help. Not their homes and their stupid social workers. Social workers. What sort of a name was that, anyway? Lorna would have been fine without them, she could've looked after Rueben on her own. Cleaned people's cars for money. Sleep in shops at night. Stayed at home, in fact. Why couldn't she stay at home?

"Lorna! Are you ready?" the police woman's voice called up the stairs, evidently growing impatient despite the fact that her voice was kind and gentle.

She didn't reply. Her voice would only shake if she did and, Lorna had promised herself, in order to get her brother back she could not show signs of weakness. There was only one way they'd get through to her, and that was if she had her brother back.

Hesitantly, she stuffed her favourite books into the zip up compartment of her suitcase and struggled to zip it back up. A few clothes went in - the ones she'd been given for the most recent Christmas, along with some pieces of jewellry and hair grips. Next was a teddy. His brown hair was somewhat rough and short. His beady black eyes were still both in perfect condition, but his rainbow scarf was tatty and a few strands had begun unravelling. Lorna couldn't stop a smile at the sight of him as she placed him carefully into the case. A few DVDs went in, but not for watching. For memories. A couple of notebooks went in, too, full of things she'd written years ago. Lastly was a small pink blanket and a large scrapbook, in which she had hurriedly placed all of her photos in a promise to stick them in as soon as possible. After all, if she wasn't going to talk then she was going to need something to do with her time.

Now she just had to close the case, which wouldn't be easy. Sitting on the top of the suitcase, she pulled at the zips around the case with force and finally closed it tight shut. With a sigh, she leaned back against her wardrobe. Across her line of vision, on one side of her bed, something glinted in the light of the sun sitting on her desk. Her phone. She pondered over whether to take it, unsure of whether she'd want to answer texts from her friends. What was the point in listening to their sympathy over and over again, yet unable to actually see them? Nonetheless, she grabbed the phone and stuffed it in the pocket of her cream coloured coat.

"Lorna?"

She rolled her eyes and pulled the suitcase up, rolling it towards the door. With one last turn, she smiled at the sight and closed the door firmly behind her. At the bottom of the stairs, the policewoman stood. She shot a worried glance at Lorna, which she ignored and walked right past. Outside, two adults waited beside a black car. Her careworkers, no doubt, along with a social worker that stood beside the door.

Lorna fought the urge to glare at the social worker as she made her way grudgingly to the car. The young woman who stood there, her black hair straight down to her shoulders, grinned encouragingly and took the suitcase.

"I'm Tracy. This is Mike, he's the head careworker," she gestured toward the man beside her, with his bald head and friendly smile. He opened the door for Lorna and waved his hand toward it, as though he was a chauffer and she was a posh woman.

They seemed nice enough. Lorna gave them the honour of a nod, before climbing into the backseat of the car and glancing around. Bit of a boring car. Nothing to look at. She turned her attention to the window, instead, watching as the houses zoomed past. Nobody spoke until they reached a tall building. A sign stood up proudly at the entrance of the drive, 'Elmtree House.'


	2. Kind Gestures

Wheels rolled against gravel, invisible voices chattering. A clutter of children were huddled around the bright red door, stepping over each other's toes and climbing around windows in an attempt to get a sneaky look at the new girl. However, incase of being caught, they could barely see a thing. They couldn't hear a voice that wasn't familiar. Just the rolling of one lone suitcase.

"I wonder why she didn't bring more stuff," a girl dressed entirely in pink and with shining jewelry pondered, spotting a black suitcase through the keyhole.

"Maybe she doesn't have many things to bring," a slightly smaller girl suggested softly, her golden blonde hair pulled back in a tidy high ponytail.

Any footsteps stopped and the rolling ceased. One voice spoke as the door began to open. "Come on, I'm sure Tracy'll introduce you to the others," it was a man's kind voice, but the friendly tone wasn't enough to stop the children from stumbling about in an attempt to fill a different room.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll love to meet you!" Tracy grinned, leading the new kid into the house, where she peered around thoughtfully and shrugged. "Hey, everyone, come and meet-!"

Moments after Tracy shouted, everyone tumbled out of the nearby door and grinned, pushing into a messy line.

"This is Lorna," Tracy announced, slightly taken aback but not entirely surprised by the young people's actions.

Once there, they seemed unsure, nobody speaking until the girl with her pink clothes and slightly darker skin stepped forward. She extended a hand, smiling reassuringly to the new girl, who looked somewhat around her age.

"Hi! I'm Carmen," she began, as the girl shook her hand but did not smile. When there was a dragged silence, Carmen's eyes drifted towards the suitcase, where Lorna's hand clutched the handle, and decided to prompt her. "Do you want me to help you unpack?"

All she got in response was a slight shake of Lorna's head.

"Well... okay," Carmen contunued after a subtle warning look from Mike, who was passing through to his office. Best not to insist, or go on about it. Instead, she turned the subject to something that didn't require any communication from Lorna's end. "This is Tee."

The small girl with her hair tied back neatly stepped forward and outstretched her hand. "Hi, welcome to the du-Elmtree. It's nice to meet you." Once again, there was a slightly awkward silence and a boy, who looked much like Tee, also stepped towards Lorna and held out his hand.

"Johnny," he said simply, a look of almost smiling appearing on his face. It was apparent to Lorna that there was something about Johnny, something bubbling inside him that he was forcing not to pour out. "Tee's my sister."

"I'm Rick," another boy, this time with scruffy dark hair and kind brown eyes, reached out to shake her hand. He smiled reassuringly, understanding in his eyes. "This is Tyler-" he pulled a laughing boy with curly hair to her, nudging him. "-beware of him."

"Elektra," an older girl with dark hair and bright blue highlights said grumpily, after being thrown to the front of the crowd.

"Frank Matthews," a boy with a chain necklace nodded and grinned at Lorna. She noticed clearly that he had something she recognised as cerebral palsy.

"My name is Gus," the most articulate young person of all took Lorna's hand and shook it firmly. He had curly hair, like Tyler's, but it was neatly cut and his shirt was tucked into his smart pants - much unlike Tyler's scruffily half-tucked orange t-shirt and his baggy jeans. Gus also held a notepad and a pen, and continued to furiously scribble words down as other young people introduced themselves. "I'll be giving you a tour in exactly thirty-one minutes and forty-three seconds. So you'd better be ready."

"All right," Tracy appeared unfazed by this odd, overly organised decision. "Perhaps you should go and-"

"Don't forget Jeff!" a small boy squeezed through the tight line and held his giraffe teddy up high. His little smile was sweet and his light blonde hair hung over his face. Dramatically, he held the giraffe to his ear and shook its head about at its neck. "Jeff says hello to Lorna and wants to know if she has any teddies."

Again, Lorna did not speak. This time, however, she could not surpress the grin etching itself upon her face.

"Oh, this is Harry," Tracy explained, not failing to notice Lorna's reaction. "He likes giraffes a lot, but his favourite giraffe is Jeff. Isn't that right, Harry?" She leaned down and ruffled his hair when he nodded, chuckling fondly.

Everyone stood in an awkward silence, Carmen rocking back and forth on her heels. Lorna bit her lip nervously and looked to Tracy for approval, who nodded. "You should probably go and get your stuff unpacked and... decide what sort of design you want in your room. If you let Mike know, we'll get it done this weekend. Your room is the-"

Lorna nodded and took a last look at her new housemates before wandering eagerly off up the stairs. At the top, however, low voices caught her attention from the huddle of people she'd just been stood with. Pausing on the top step, she listened intently.

"Listen, guys, I think it's best if we don't disrupt her. She's clearly had a hard time getting used to the fact that she's in care now, and if she doesn't want to be disturbed then we'll let her deal with it that way," Tracy spoke quietly to the young people, an informative tone in her voice. "We all have different ways of dealing with this."

Nods could almost be felt from where Lorna sat. She heard a 'yeah, guys' from Carmen and a 'maybe she just needs-' from Tee before rushing off the step and along the corridor. Most of the rooms she passed were full, messy or freakishly tidy alike, with personal items and photos and clothes. One room, however, held only a bed and a bedside table. This was it, then. Her new room.

Tugging the suitcase behind her, Lorna sighed and blew a stray strand of hair from her face. Closing the door tight shut behind her, she threw the suitcase to the floor and threw the lid open. She began to empty the contents onto the floor, starting with the scrapbook of memories yet to be glued onto the old, rusty pages. A pile of clothes was quickly stuffed into the drawers of the bedside table and jewellry and hair grips were left piled on the table top. She lay out the DVDs, scrapbook, notebooks, teddy and the books from the zip up compartment in a neat assortment on the floor before wrapping them carefully inside the warm pink blanket. Opening the bottom drawer of the bedside table, Lorna placed the bundle carefully inside and shut it, then jumping up to lay on the bed. She didn't do anything for the next two hours, just watched the plain ceiling and listened to the cautious footsteps and whispers outside her door. Tears threatened to penetrate past the brim of her eyes, but she always pulled them back in. Crying was for night time, at the least, when there was no risk of being seen.

A herd of feet and voices brought her back to reality as a deep woman's voice called up the stairs. "Tea time!" she heard, over and over, not wanting to move. To disturb her blissful peace with an agonizing hour of people trying to get through to her. Hopefully, they'd listen to what Tracy said. If this plan was going to work out, then Lorna could not get distracted. But, if she did not get up soon, someone was bound to come and get her.

They did.

"Uh... tea's ready, Lorna," Carmen's head peeked around the door hesitantly and she shot a feeble grin at the girl sprawled across the bed inside. "We're having Gina's Friday pasta. It's a sort of special. You... won't want to miss it."

Lorna only nodded, stayed down for a moment, and hopped off her bed. Carmen was still there, waiting at the door, and walked with her all the way down to the kitchen. In case she didn't get lost, Lorna supposed. That said, what happened to her tour? Hadn't Gus been set on showing her around the place? What happened to that? Perhaps it was what Tracy had said, and he'd been convinced to make other arrangements.

Everyone was already sat at the table when Lorna arrived. Each head flew up at the sound of her arrival, momentarily distracting them from the bowl of pasta in front of them. Carmen gestured to a seat between her and Tee, pouring some of the food into her bowl before filling her own. Still, everyone was silent and attentive. It was eerie, with the looks that Mike and Tracy were giving the rest of the kids.

Tracy coughed, taking her own seat opposite Lorna. "Well, what are you waiting for? Eat up, you lot." At that, everyone caught the warning and tucked into their meal. Nobody really spoke for the first few minutes, too intent on filling their angry stomaches. All that went through Lorna's mind was how kind Carmen was being, and how much she hated it.


	3. Doubts

**A/N: Thank you for such kind reviews! :D I really appreciate them. Tell me what you'd like to see in future chapters! Characters, events, etc. I'll favourite and review one of your stories and credit you if I use your idea.**

Chapter Three

That night, Lorna cuddled up in her bed doing exactly what she'd been bottling up all day. Crying. Softly, so as not to be heard by whoever occupied the rooms next door and were possibly still awake. Every time she came close to sleep, a new nightmare or vision of her parents or her brother would enter her mind and swallow her up. Sweat was dripping down her face and mingling with the teardrops. Surely she wouldn't be the only person in this place to suffer from nightmares, they'd all been through these things, but Lorna just couldn't think that way. She didn't want their comfort, it'd just make things worse.

When she woke up for what she'd counted as the fifth time from her short bouts of sleep, Lorna slipped out of her bed and rubbed her eyes, tip-toeing out of her room and closing the door behind her carefully. As she'd guessed, other people were probably still awake, so sneaking around was not going to be easy. Lorna was smart enough to know that the 'sleep walking' excuse would get her nowhere. She was an appalling actress.

A creaky floorboard at the top of the staircase jolted her, causing her heart to thump unnecessarily violently. With a relieved sigh, she reached the bottom step and casually continued on to the direction she remembered as the kitchen and dining room. Pulling her messy hair back into a tight ponytail, she entered the room and strode over to the countertop, now feeling confident that nobody had seen or heard her. Nobody would be down here anyw-

Just as she'd been setting herself in a seat at the counter, a head had jumped up from the other side and made her jump out of her skin. She would've fallen out of the chair, too, if they hadn't grabbed her hand and she hadn't grabbed the chair. With her eyes wide open and her heart thumping against her ribcage, Lorna breathed deeply and sighed again in relief. Thankfully, they'd stopped any noise from being made and prevented any injuries. Lorna was, now, very paranoid however.

"What'd you do that for?" Lorna now recognised the boy as Johnny, and he had been quick to drop her hand once the chair was stable again. "Here's one thing you need to learn about this place: if you're going to sneak about, then you could at least try not to get caught."

As usual with Lorna, there was a dragged silence and Johnny considered her. "So, what're you doing up?" Of course, there was no response. "Oh, yeah. The new girl that doens't talk. Well, if you're in the kitchen then I take it you want something to eat or drink. What do you want?"

Lorna glared at him when he mentioned her silence, but soon recovered and shrugged, puzzled. Why had she decided on the kitchen? Perhaps it was because she could see outside, or because the living room was just too lonely. But Johnny took her answer as an orange juice and took a seat beside her, sliding the carton into her hands. Reluctantly, she gave him a grateful look and turned to sip on her drink. He may not have been the nicest resident in the home, but that didn't matter. Lorna wasn't looking for friends, remember? But company couldn't hurt.

"Why're you down here?" he repeated, clearly refusing to take silence as an answer. "I mean, I've been down here since half one. It's half two now. So why-"

He stopped, noticing the expression of determination on Lorna's face. "All right, don't tell me then." They sat in absolute quiet after that, only slurping on their juice and yawning every now and then. When the clock ticked to three o' clock, Johnny stood up suddenly out of his seat and squashed the carton into the bin. He turned to Lorna. "You won't tell anyone I was here."

It wasn't quite a threat or a warning, not a plead or a reassurance. He said it as though it were a fact, and that alone scared Lorna. What if, by choosing the path of never speaking, she had dragged herself out into a forest packed full of wolves? What if she'd willingly made herself vulnerable, instead of strong?

Pondering over the thought worriedly, Lorna threw her carton into the bin and made her way back upstair. Whether her plan had gone horrifically wrong or not, it had already begun. That meant that there was no going back now, only continuing forward. Wherever that was.

Weary and tired, she slipped into bed and fell into a deep sleep instantly. Only one nightmare appeared this time, and it was quickly washed away by a warm image of her family. Rueben was snuggled beside their living room fire, his messy tangle of brown curls laying on a large cushion. Beside him sat their mother, her glistening straight blonde hair shining in the moonlight that streaked through the window. Her kind grey eyes were full of hope and love as she stroked her son's head. Then there was their father - his scruffy brown hair, just like Lorna and Rueben, and his dark eyes filled with laughter and pride. Lorna snuggled between her parents, a wide grin spreading across her face, one arm resting over Rueben's sleeping body, finally happy again. Rueben was safe. Her parents were safe. She was surrounded by people who loved her...

A scream jolted her awake. Glancing towards the other side of the room, where a clock had been evidently left by the room's former resident, Lorna realised that it was seven o' clock. Seven o' clock, on a Saturday morning. Were these people crazy? Why ever anybody would wake up at such a time baffled Lorna as she creeped out of the room, half asleep and yawning. It had been a girl's scream she'd heard, one loud enough to wake anybody up.

Entering the kitchen, she suddenly became aware of the problem. Other kids had rushed out of bed to see the source of the scream, too, and looks of shock and amusement were plastered all over their faces. In front of them, behind the breakfast counter, was a horrified Carmen. Covered in orange juice. Wide eyes drifting towards the bin, Lorna saw the carton immediately. Her carton. Clearly, when she'd thrown it, the carton had only fallen in the edge of the bin. Carmen had probably tried to close the bin and... well, Lorna hadn't exactly finished her drink last night.

Johnny sent her a knowing look and practically smirked. She knew he wasn't going to tell anybody, of course, perhaps he was even worried. If anybody found out that he'd been awake at such hours last night, there'd be hell to pay. However, Lorna was battling giggles herself at the distressed girl. Mike had rushed to help, handing pieces of paper towel over to her and scrubbing at the juice on her pyjamas.

"You'd better go and get changed, Carmen," he suggested, frowning apologetically.

Nodding, Carmen began to leave the room. Before passing the crowd of kids, she stopped and glared at them all. "Whoever this was, you'd better own up."

With that, she stormed through them and marched up the stairs. Once everyone was sure she was out of earshot, laughter commenced - all but from Lorna. It was way too early to laugh, and it'd ruin her act of silence. Mike raised his eyebrows at them somewhat disapprovingly and left the room at that. A few moments later, everybody was seated at the table and Gina had set out plenty of toast and juice for them.

This time, Lorna didn't sit next to Carmen. Actually, she was a little afraid of what she'd do to her if she got too close. Carmen didn't know it was Lorna's fault, but it didn't mean she wouldn't take it out on her. Instead, she was the last to sit down. Unsure and feeling awkward, Lorna looked around and bit her lip.

"Here," Rick seemed to have noticed and was gesturing to the chair beside him. "You can sit there, if you like."

Gratefully, Lorna slid into the chair. Thankfully, Rick didn't expect conversation out of her. He left her to finish her breakfast and even poured some raspberry juice for her, smiling. Lorna had decided that Rick was a nice person, but she wouldn't dare like him. Fondness was dangerous.

"So, Lorna, how many carehomes have you been a resident of before Elmtree House?" Gus asked, pen and pad at the ready. It made Lorna sort of nervous, the way he leaned forward across the table and held his notepad firmly in front of his face - staring right into Lorna's eyes.

"Maybe she doesn't want to discuss that," Rick cut in, looking at Lorna in the corner of his eyes. "It's a bit of a personal question."

When Gus backed away reluctantly, Lorna found herself looking at Rick thankfully again. Damn, why couldn't the Elmtree care kids just be horrible to her and get it over with? She still hadn't smiled - except at Harry, but that didn't count, it was like looking at Rueben - or spoken to anybody. No personal attachments made.

Frustrated at the fact that she'd had to wait for the rest of the care kids to finish eating when she'd finished so early, Lorna cleared and washed her plate before rushing back up to her bedroom, aware of the fact that Rick's eyes were on her the whole time.


	4. Breaking

Chapter Four

Once sure that she was safe of being undisturbed, Lorna pulled the pink blanket out of her bottom drawer and unravelled it to retrieve her scrapbook. Closing the rest of the items back into the drawer, she opened the book to reveal a stash of photos still yet to be stuck in. With a sigh, Lorna took the glue that she'd found in the storage closet and began to glue a particular picture onto the cover.

This picture was one of her, Rueben and their parents. It seemed awfully cliché, but the last week or so had really shown her how much family meant. It represented her. Promises, love and acceptance. Somewhere she belonged, not like Elmtree house.

With help from a few colourful crayons, also from the storage closet, Lorna managed to make the front of her scrapbook colourful and meaningful. She couldn't help a slight laugh at the cheesiness, mixed with the good memory belonging to the photo. As she turned the page to stick another one in, the handle of her door began to turn. Anxiously, Lorna slammed the book shut and stared at the door.

"Jeff wants to come in!" an out of breath Harry poked his head around the door, whispering frantically as he ran into the room, closed the door and sat in the corner with his giraffe teddy.

Shocked and confused by the notion, Lorna cocked her head to the side. A pair of feet flew past her door, and she immediately assumed that Harry and Jeff were hiding from them. When he sighed in relief, her suspicions were confirmed. Grinning again, Harry scrambled up from the floor and hurried over to her bed, inspecting the scrapbook.

"Who's that?" he asked curiously, pointing to the little boy in the picture. Seeing that he was getting no response, Harry pointed the giraffe's head at the photograph. "Jeff says he thinks that boy's your little brother."

Unable to surpress a gentle smile, Lorna nodded and opened up the book. Inside, a pile of pictures came tumbling out. Pulling a few certain ones out, she lined them up on the bed covers and Harry jumped up to sit next to her. He happily flicked through them, stopping sometimes to look at the little boy and his proud parents. There was something about the expression on his face as the time dragged on. Wishful longing for the scenes that the photographs held inside them.

Noticing the analysis in Lorna's eyes, Harry sat up straight and spoke for the first time in what felt like a good while. "Sapphire's my mum. But she left me. Carmen said she'd be my mum, but she didn't want to any more."

Unsure of what Harry was saying, Lorna furrowed her eyebrows. Carmen... was this the Carmen she lived with? Perhaps they'd been playing some sort of a game. But then who was Sapphire? A wave of empathy and a desire to comfort washed over Lorna, but she didn't expect what happened next. Little Harry flung himself into her arms, throwing Jeff around her neck.

At first, she did nothing. Bewildered, she just sat there. But then her arms wrapped around his small figure and hugged him tightly, allowing his head to rest on her shoulder. Something in her head was screaming that this was wrong, it was getting in the way. Harry wasn't Rueben. Yet she couldn't bring herself to pull him off.  
>They stayed sat there until Gina called them down for lunch. A rumble of Harry's tummy signaled that he needed food, and he leapt out of Lorna's arms and off the bed.<p>

"Jeff's hungry!" he announced.

Hurriedly, Lorna stuffed her things back into the drawer and hesitated before she took Harry's outstretched hand. With a deep breath, they made their way down to lunch. Still being the new kid, Lorna had all eyes on her when she entered the room. Two spaces were left next to Rick, so she set Harry down between them. A sort of invisible barrier - Harry was Rueben, and without taking him back she couldn't get to Rick.

"Juice?" Rick addressed both Harry and Lorna. Harry nodded Jeff's head and Lorna nodded her own, accepting the cranberry juice with a silent thank you in her eyes.  
>"Are you going to talk to us yet?" Gus took a seat opposite Lorna, notepad at the ready once again. He was not about to give up any time soon. Rick scowled at him, but he ignored it. "I need your answers for my notebook. Everybody here has had to answer my questions and I can't stop asking you until I get the answers."<br>Wary and now a little scared of Gus, Lorna tucked into her food and chose to ignore the numerous eyes staring her way. Eventually, when Tracy cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows at them, they left her alone. Nobody seemed to speak much, no doubt something had happened whilst Lorna had been locked away in her room. It was an eerie atmosphere, but she didn't mind.  
>Finally finished, along with most of the other young people, Lorna washed up her plate and glass, then doing the same with Harry's. As she turned away from the sink, the view outside caught her eye. A garden. A huge garden. It was almost like a mini forest, hidden away in a care home. Instantly, curiosity won her over. That was where she was going next. Passing carefully through the rest of the children, Lorna made her way outside and into the garden - ready to explore.<p>

The countless trees and leaves played at her adventurous senses and excited her. So much to explore and... places of sanctuary. A peaceful place to hide. Now officially grateful for this, Lorna took a seat on a rusty bench surrounded by huge bushes. Only the sound of distant birds chirping and the breeze flying through her hair drifted into her ears. No Gus to mider her, no Carmen to talk non stop about ridiculous girly things and no Tyler to creep up and scare her.

At last, she had some time to herself to think. Think and breathe fresh air in the closest she had to the wilderness. Of course, the first thing she thought of was Rueben and her plan to get him back. But how? So far, the plan was going disastrously. Rick, Carmen and Harry had been far too nice to her. Even Jeff. But there were no emotional attachments, right? It wasn't as though she liked them, liked their company.

"Sitting alone?"

A voice shot Lorna out of her daydreams and her head snapped up. Rick. He wasn't smiling or laughing, or frowning or scowling. Rick had another look of understanding spread over his face, that same look that sent dread running through Lorna's body. He sat beside her.

"It's all right," he seemed to have noticed how tense she was. "I'm not going to make you talk or fire questions at you. "But I understand. I mean, I..."

For a few minutes, he didn't speak. Lorna was beginning to think he was going to leave and give up. She wasn't so lucky. "I had-have-a friend. She used to go here, but they moved her to a special home. You... you kind of remind me of her. There's reasons why certain people do certain things. There's a reason she didn't talk to anybbody, and there's a reason why you do the same."

Suddenly, a rush of worry swam through Lorna. Had he figured her out? It wasn't like it was a big deal, the fact that she was trying to get her brother back, but... there was something else.

"I just wanted to let you know that I plan on finding out your reason," Rick stood up from his position. "But don't worry, I won't tell anybody. I'm not a snitch."  
>With that, he was gone.<p> 


End file.
